


Salvation (Pt. II)

by VenezuelanWriter



Series: Let's hurt tonight [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Iron Fist (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: (kind of) team dynamics, Break Up, Canon Het Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence (briefly), Cooking, Daredevil S02 spoilers, Drinking & Talking, Explicit Sexual Content, Falling In Love, First Dates, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Friendship, Happy Ending, Literal Sleeping Together, Love, M/M, Matt channeling his chi, Minor Character Death, Post Daredevil S02, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-30 02:04:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12643911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenezuelanWriter/pseuds/VenezuelanWriter
Summary: Danny, to this day, still wonders who saved who."Salvation" from Danny's POV + missing moments.





	Salvation (Pt. II)

**Author's Note:**

> This is meant to show missing moments and Danny’s point of view in specific parts of the first fic of the series. I don’t think this works perfectly well as a standalone.
> 
> Writing this was such a challenge, you guys. I really hope you enjoy it and give it as much love as you gave the first part of this <3.
> 
> Thanks a lot to the wonderful UpsideAround for officially betaing this for me and to DannyLovesMatt, who read this as soon as it was ready because she's awesome and deserves it.

 

Danny had realized that he needed help in order to defeat The Hand as soon as it was revealed to him the magnitude of their reach. Besides, it was personal: they’d destroyed K’un Lun, his home and the place he’d sworn to protect.

He’d heard the stories and read on the news about some other vigilantes and heroes from New York, so he didn’t hesitate to strategize a plan with Colleen and Claire’s help: Getting them all together to form a team.

Luckily for him, Claire was really both a helpful and an useful friend—she happened to know all of the people he was planning on contacting with.

To say the least, he couldn’t  _ believe _ it when he learned that Daredevil’s identity was Matt Murdock. 

Danny had been away for a long time and his life had been chaotic when he returned to the city, but of course he’d heard about someone as renowned as one of the lawyers who had put away Wilson Fisk.

Danny’s next move was to ask Claire for his address so he could go and, straight out of honesty, tell him who he was and what his intentions were.

After Matt opened the door, Danny’s probable first unconscious thought was “ _ man, he’s actually more handsome in person _ ”.

*

“Thank you all for being here,” Danny said, shifting on his feet. He was a little anxious about finally having them all together in the same room.

“Yeah, yeah, is not like I came willingly,” Jessica said.

“You didn’t?” Luke asked her.

At least they seemed to get along well.

“Trish made me come. Anyway, who’s the lurking four-eyes?”

“He’s Matt Murdock,” Danny said. “He’s… the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.”

“You want me to buy that Daredevil is a blind man?” Jessica asked.

“A blind mind who can tell you had coffee this morning with whiskey on it,” Matt said. 

Jessica was silent and threw a hard glare in Matt’s direction. Luke just witnessed the exchange in silence and Danny would guess amusement.

“Cheap whiskey, I must add,” Matt said.

“Okay,” Jessica said. “Point taken. I guess.”

“Guys,” Danny intervened, before the discussion went any further. “I brought you all here because I need your help.”

“Why you?” Luke asked. “I know what’s special about Jess, me and now him.” He pointed vaguely to Matt. “But you didn’t tell me what was special about you.”

“I couldn’t over the phone. The Hand watches every one of my moves.”

“He’s a flashlight,” Jessica said.

Danny saw Matt smirking out of the corner of his eye.

“I’m an immortal weapon named The Iron Fist,” he explained. “15 years ago, I was with my family on a trip to China when our plane crashed.”

“Everyone thought you were dead,” Luke said. “I remember you on the news.”

“Yeah. I was never found because monks from K’un Lun took me in,” Danny said. “K’un Lun is this… it’s another dimension that connects periodically with Earth.”

“Listen,” Matt said, standing up. “Stop right there. I’m not buying this. I’m just not.”

He walked out of the warehouse, heavy footsteps decorating his way out.

Danny wasn’t sure of what to think. His immediate reaction was to feel offended at the distrust. He knew it was complicated to understand that it was all real—K’un Lun, his powers, Shao Lao—but he had proof! Matt had seen—well, heard or felt or whatever—the fist.   

Danny took a deep breath and turned to Luke and Jessica.

“I’ll… I’ll tell Claire to talk to him. Let’s move on with the story.”

In the back of his mind, as he kept explaining Luke and Jessica everything he knew, he continued to think about Matt leaving and realizing, more rationally this time, that probably Matt wouldn’t be such a good vigilante if he trusted everyone around him right away.

Danny was sure Matt would realize something of his own, too: Danny was one of the good guys.

*

_ 1 month later. _

Danny was happy. 

Between the stress and pressure of fighting The Hand along his friends, being constantly in danger and New York’s threats growing exponentially by the day, he was lucky he at least had the safe refuge Colleen meant for him.

They were in this together and they had each other’s backs whenever the mission compromised their well-being and mental balance.

Because (and Danny was not ashamed of admitting it to himself or Colleen) fighting these battles had an effect on people on a psychological level and it definitely messed up badly with his peace of mind sometimes.

But back to the point: he had Colleen, at the end of the day.

He had her to tell him everything was going to be alright when it seemed that things couldn’t get any worse, just as he had her to share the small victories that allowed them to actually move on with their purposes.

He had her, right there, making breakfast for both of them inside the Chikara Dojo’s little kitchen. And she smiled at him, so sweetly in loose shirt and panties, and Danny knew it: He was happy.

*

_ 1 month later. _

Danny was not actually focused at the moment. He walked mechanically on the building’s rooftops, barely aware of the chill midnight wind hitting his face and only paying attention to follow Luke’s and Jessica’s exact steps. 

All he had in mind was his last discussion with Colleen. He liked that she had a critical thinking, but why couldn’t she see the smartest thing to do was to attack The Hand by surprise? She insisted on doing the opposite, on letting them know they were getting close so they’d fear them. The Hand doesn’t fear anyone! It was obvious the right choice was to let them think they were in the dark so they didn’t see them coming.

“Elektra,” Matt whispered from behind Danny.

Danny turned to him, hands sunk on his hoodie pockets, confused. He was not sure if he should’ve known what that meant. It was likely that they’d all been having a conversation without him being aware of it.

“What?” Jessica asked.

Good, so none of them knew what that was supposed to mean either.

“Stick’s dead,” Matt whispered —something fairly odd in Matt’s character—and to add even more suspense to the situation, he covered his mouth right after.

He looked like he’d been literally broken, torn apart.

“Who’s Stick?” Luke asked.

Matt’s took a deep breath and shook his head.

“Elektra just killed him. Right now.”

Danny was concerned. He didn’t completely understand, but it was awful on its own the death of a person. If it was someone that Matt cared about—

“We’re all lost, Matt,” Danny said, before jumping to any conclusion. “Who are these people?” 

“Elektra is the Black Sky,” Matt said. Danny would need a lot of time he didn’t have at the moment to process that sentence only. “Stick raised us both. Oh my God—” Matt gasped and crossed himself. 

Danny sometimes forgot Matt was catholic. He really admired everything that Matt did without having conflicts with his religion and he also thought it was a very important factor in the life of someone like them, who so often questioned what did it all—the missions, the good, the evil—mean.  

Danny turned to Luke and Jess then, still somewhat lost. Both of them just had concerned and sorry expressions on their faces.

Danny’s shoulders hunched and he wished he had something smarter to say than, “Matt, I’m sorry.”

“We all are,” Jessica corrected. Her voice was serene and full of sympathy.

Luke nodded, apparently speechless.

Matt nodded and looked like he was setting his mind into focus again before speaking.

“Let’s go,” Matt said.

Matt, from being the last one in the line, went to be the one guiding them to the place of the events: A dark, stenchy, creepy ally.

Stick’s body was all over the place. There was dense blood, scattered guts, loose bones, a rolled over head. It all looked terrible and Danny wished Matt didn’t have to be there.

And he really wanted to say something. Telling Matt that they could do the basic research without him, that it wasn’t actually necessary that he saw (in a way, Matt could see) all of that, given how hard it was for him.

But he didn’t say anything and he wasn’t sure of why was that. Maybe because he thought it would’ve been awkward with Jess and Luke there, maybe because, while he thought all of that, Matt decided to leave and almost didn’t even bother to notify it.

“Stick, huh?” Luke said. He walked nearer to Stick’s lifeless body and examined the scene.

“Yeah,” Danny said, breathless.

“Folks, we don’t have to be here,” Jess said. “We already know what happened and it’s just disgusting.”

“I agree with you on that,” Luke replied.

“Me too,” Danny said.

“Good. Then we’re leaving,” she said and turned on her heels out of the ally.

Saving New York had a high cost and unfortunately it was Matt’s turn to pay it that night.

*

Back at the dojo, Danny was quiet. He didn’t want to talk about it and he and Colleen weren’t at exactly good terms yet.

He dropped himself on the bed, sighing heavily.

“What happened?” She asked, getting out of the bathroom to sit next to him on the bed.

She was genuinely concerned about him and he knew he must’ve looked as devastated as he was. He answered her, considering the two of them should start making up already.

“Someone died.” He took a deep breath once more and continued to explain the situation. “A mentor of Matt’s. The man who raised him, actually. It was the Black Sky—Her name is Elektra.”

“At least we know the Sky’s name. We should use it to our advantage, right?”

“Colleen,” Danny said, straightening up and sitting next to her. He felt anguished at her words and all the rage he’d tried to put aside suddenly burned in his chest again. “When did you change so much? A man is dead and all you can think about is the mission? I’m worried about Matt. He’s feeling terrible, you know?”

“Danny, I’m trying to say something useful—”

“You’re not the same anymore.”

She didn’t say anything else and the room got tight with tension. Her eyes roamed his face and Danny sighed heavily as he passed a hand over his face, leaving it to support his chin. He tried to stay calm and think about all the reasons why they deserved each other and were good together. He came up blank. 

Danny wanted to get out of there and maybe go back to his suite. He always had that if the dojo wasn’t feeling like an actual home.

So he just rose to his feet, sharp and sudden moves driving his body. 

“Where are you going?” Colleen asked.

“Out.”

And out he went.

*

He really had no direction. He was just walking on the street until he found something to focus his mind and time on different than all the mess he’d recently been a part of.

He realized something productive to invest his time on when he was walking by a Mexican restaurant.

When the spicy food’s smell reached his nose, he realized how hungry he was.

He gets in the 24-hours local, finding it with enough clients to be surprised given the time of the night—or morning, actually.

He ordered the mix plate on the menu and sat, next to the window and appreciating the slow sunrise, to eat in peace.

It was delicious and just damn opportune for the occasion. Then, an idea occurred to him: Matt.

He enjoyed the food because it had been heavenly and exquisite, but not even the most divine of meals could’ve taken off his chest the sorrow he had produced by the mere thought of Matt in the state of pain he was in.

So why not going, offering a word of support and take him some food? He surely must not have been in the cooking mood and being lonely in those moments was the worst that could happen to anyone.

Danny ordered for him a plate like the one he had had to-go and on his way to Matt’s, he also stopped for cookies. If the Mexican food wasn’t enough, then cookies had to be, right?

He only caught a bus when he was a few blocks away from Matt’s place, but he was honestly too tired to walk any for longer.

It was barely past 6 am and he wondered if it all of this had been a good plan. Maybe Matt had been sleeping (or trying to sleep) for the last hours. Maybe he would hate Danny for not giving him privacy.

All doubts disappeared as Danny repeated himself that what he was doing was what friends did. They were there for each other and they offered their help even if the other one hadn’t asked for it.

He knocked twice on Matt’s door and was ignored. He felt stupid; maybe Matt wasn’t even there. He knocked one more time—a last time, he told himself—and sighed in frustration at the non-existent response.

“You know what? I don’t need you to open the door. If you’re in there, then you’re listening,” he finally decided to say. It was worth giving it a shot. “Luke and Jess are worried about you. And me too, obviously. I’ve just come to tell you that.” Danny looked down to his hands holding the paper bags of food. “I brought you a meal and cookies. Although you probably already know that. I hope you like Mexican food.”

Danny felt comfortable. It was really easy to talk to someone through a door and without actually being one hundred percent sure that they were even listening.

“You have to let people in, Matt. You have to let  _ us _ in,” he said. He meant it so much it hurt. “We want to be your friends.”

Danny almost left the food and turned around to leave, but soon enough he heard sounds on the other side of the door that indicated Matt was there and listening.

The door opened smoothly. Matt was wearing a gray round-neck shirt and sweatpants. Danny could say he wasn’t very convinced of having that conversation. Still, he grinned at the accomplishment, at the fact that Matt had acceded to talk to him.

“It was the cookies, right?” Danny said, trying to break the ice. Matt snorted slightly, evidently making an effort to ease up. Danny moved on into the more serious stuff. “Listen, man, I’m really sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” Matt replied. He licked his lips before speaking and shook his head. “But I can’t talk right now, Danny. You don’t understand.”

_ Huh _ .

“I kind of expected you to say that,” Danny said. He thought about answering  _ ‘Actually, I do. I lost my parents too,’ _ but he didn’t. He feared it would victimize him and that was the last thing he wanted.

They had a short exchange of words, mostly discussing the fact that Elektra was the Black Sky and that not even that was something relevant to know by then. It all sucked a lot and Danny just wished Matt understood how much he meant everything he was saying.

So he didn’t think twice about it—he just did it. He offered Matt a hug that although brief, it was honest and hopefully full of good energies for him.

“I’ll get going now,” Danny said, a little too self-aware of the silence stretching between them. “Like I said, hope you like Mexican food.”

Danny gave Matt the food and decided it was time to leave him on his own again.

“Hey, Danny,” Matt called. Danny faced him again on the building’s hallway. “Thank you for the food. And for coming.”

Danny was joyful to know that. He knew a smile was curving his lips and he didn’t care if people thought he was crazy for smiling to himself. He was just happy and his chest felt lighter after having done all of that for Matt. His message had been received and he was more than positive about it.

“Anytime, Matt,” he whispered, pushing the building’s door on his way out. “Anytime.”

*

Danny served Luke and Jess a glass of water. Even under those circumstances, having guests at his suite was nice. Without Matt on the field, going to the warehouse seemed unnecessary and the three of them fitted just well in the suite’s main living room area.

“All I’m saying is that we give him more time,” Luke said.

“He’s had  _ three _ days,” Jessica replied with a tone of irritation.

“I don’t know, guys,” Danny said, taking a seat in front of them across the small coffee table. “I know three days are very little, but we need his help.”

“Maybe one of us should go and check on him,” Jessica suggested.

“Uh, no, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Danny said. Luke frowned in confusion and Jessica muttered under her breath something along the lines of  _ chill out, dude. _ “I already did that. The other night. Morning, actually. After it happened. And I don’t think he wants to be ‘checked on’ again this soon.”

He’d totally forgotten to mention his latest meeting with Matt. After they had sorted out what they would do about the Matt situation, he had to inform Jess and Luke about the information Matt had given him in that conversation (although it was almost useless, but whatever).

“Then let’s just call him,” Luke said. “If he doesn’t want to talk to us, he’ll ignore the phone and we leave him a voicemail. If he wants to talk, then he picks up and we let him know we need ‘im.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Jessica said.

She stretched her arm and picked up Danny’s cellphone on the table to offer it to him.

“Me?” Danny asked, incredulous. Jessica shrugged. “Why me?”

“Because you’re the one who put us all together, for starters,” Luke said.

“And I bet you’re the one he likes the most, anyway,” Jessica added.

Danny took the phone from Jessica’s hand and dialed Matt’s number. As it was predictable, Matt didn’t pick up and instead he let it go to the voicemail.

“We all understand that you’re in grief,” Danny said. He made eye contact with Luke and Jessica for their approval. They nodded and he continued. “But we need you. You’re our walking-talking, remember? And our personal polygraph.” Danny snorted. Jessica sent him a glare. “And to honor Stick’s memory, you should do all you can to stop those who took his life.”

He decided there was nothing else to say and ended the voicemail. 

“Well, that was easier than I thought,” he said as he put the phone down on the table again.

“Now let’s hope he knows we mean it,” Luke said.

“What he said,” Jessica said.

*

The next day, Danny, Luke and Jessica went out to follow the trace of a mysterious man that was apparently closely related to both the Black Sky and Nobu.

After keeping guard for hours over a chinese restaurant that was one of the many covers of The Hand, they got nothing. They were exhausted, but before returning all to their places, they decided to make a stop by the warehouse-slash-base-of-operations to sort out their next moves.

To their surprise, they found Matt leaned against the main metal, rectangular, table of the place.

“Hey,” he said, stopping his support on the table. “I thought it was time to get back on the field.”

“Welcome back, man,” Luke said.

And Danny’s heart rate increased and even Jessica offered a shy smirk.

The team was officially back in the game.

*

“God, I still can’t believe I let myself be talked into this,” Jessica whispered ‘to herself’. At least, that was what she kept saying every time she complained about the whole mission and her teammates’ company.

“Shut up,” Matt said. “I think I may have something.” His face was of concentration and attention.

They had been keeping track of one of Nobu’s ninjas, but this time the place they were spying on was a mental hospital. It didn’t appeared to be a plain cover like the Chinese restaurant, but there was something going on in that place even if it was off the books.

“No, nothing,” Matt said.

“I’m hungry,” Luke said. “Like,  _ very _ hungry. Local places will start opening soon so I say we check this off the task list because we’re obviously not getting anything and go grab some breakfast.”

At the mention of food, Danny’s stomach growled.

“Yeap, it’s good by me,” he said.

“And me,” Jessica said.

“I guess I’ll go change then,” Matt said.

“Meet you at Reggie’s, the place next to the Grand Hotel,” Jessica said. “That place is the shit.”

Matt smirked.

“Sure, I’ll catch you there.”

*

Danny questioned talking to Colleen about it or not. Since their last discussion, things had taken some time to heal properly and even if they had been at their best, he didn’t think he could talk to her fully about this weird anxiety on his chest that was related to Matt and their meeting for that night to ‘talk about their feelings’.

He knew he had no reasons to be, not really, but something made him feel nervous about being at Matt’s place without anyone else around. Would it be comfortable? Not awkward? Would they manage to settle the trust level right enough?

He brushed it all away as well as he could—because the last thing he wanted was Matt catching up on the doubt feeling he was having about all of that—and went to buy the pizzas he’d promised he’d take. 

Once he was there and the first beer cans were opened, things flowed smoothly enough. He personally had to thank alcohol to shut off his excessively worrying mind and let him pay attention to all the things Matt was venting to him.

Danny couldn’t believe he’d thought trust would be an issue. It was natural that neither of them would repeat the intimacies and secrets they were sharing with the other.

That was the only reason Danny dared to ask about Matt’s likes for men—and also because he had to know before he admitted to himself what the nervousness on his chest had been the whole time about. 

When Matt joked about it, Danny pretty much had a heart attack. The thought of screwing things up with Matt so badly scared the hell out of him. He got over it (for the most part) and it was then that Matt returned to the original matter at hand

“Anyway, why were you asking?”

“Because I wanted to talk to someone, too,” Danny answered. “About that.”  _ And to know what are your general thoughts about all of this, man.  _

“So you’ve liked men before,” Matt said.

Danny didn’t answer with a ‘yes’ because it hadn’t been a question, but he didn’t say ‘no’ because it wasn’t a fake statement. He didn’t have to guts to admit it, nor the moral to deny it.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to actually judge you or anything.”

Danny sighed and relief washed over his body. 

“That’s good to know,” Danny said. He tried to organize his thoughts and next lines of dialogue, but he couldn’t. Rational thoughts beyond the idea of ‘I’m actually talking about this with Matt!’ had apparently been blocked off his brain.

“I don’t know; it’s complicated,” he said. “In the monastery, there were no girls or even women to interact with. Being surrounded by just one gender all the time has an effect on people.” He shrugged. “Or at least, it had an effect on me.”  _ Something that is being accentuated by you and the way I’m starting to feel around you. _

Danny realized Matt hadn’t answered his question and kind of hated him in a way for having the ability to have him opening up his heart about such a personal thing without him revealing if he had been or not in that position himself.

“I’ve liked men before,” Matt said. Danny wondered if Matt could actually read his mind sometimes. “When I was in college and my mind opened to a lot of different people.”

So Danny asked questions and let the course of their talk define itself. He was going to be happy with whatever amount of details Matt gave him, whether they were none or plenty.

Knowing that Matt had only been to one night stands was a little disappointing, but that it had been for religious reasons was the actual stab on Danny’s chest. Even if he sorted his mess out, he had no chances with Matt.

To top it off, before they changed subjects again they toasted for Colleen, out of all the people and things there could’ve toasted for.

Danny had meant it: she was awesome. But he just didn’t think she was what he needed anymore.

His heart was trying to tell him that it was Matt who he needed and now he’d just learned the reason why that would never happen.

*

With Colleen, things weren’t going as great as they had been before, that was a fact Danny had already accepted. But he just hadn’t thought it would get to that.

Discussions between English and Japanese about minor things, about the decisions they’d made, about The Hand, the things they’d done in the past and the ones they planned to do in the future. Discussions about everything.

Danny didn’t understand what was happening between them, what changed them and what changed their previously flawless and fluid dynamic.

It was as simple as the fact that he’d stopped tolerating Colleen as he’d had learned to do for the past year.

“Colleen, I can’t keep this up,” he said, angrily yet tiredly, too. 

“Then don’t,” she barked back, a high-pitched tone escaping with her words.

“Are you breaking up with me?” He asked, a little too indignant not to ask it. 

“Are you?”

Danny didn’t say anything. He looked in her eyes filled with tears from the rage and the desperation, probably. He knew his face looked like the lyrics of a sad poem as well: too depressing, too deep, too obscure. 

Maybe it was another fight. Danny thought they’d already been through the worst when she still considered herself a part of The Hand. After they got over all of that, he doubted there was something that could break them apart.

He should’ve known better.

*

Danny wanted to talk to Matt, but he wasn’t sure of what he could possibly say. ‘I think I broke up with Colleen because of you’ didn’t seem a convenient conversation starter.

Plus, he wasn’t even sure that that was true. He’d broken up with Colleen for multiple reasons. Maybe one of the things that had changed in the recent months had been Matt’s presence in Danny’s life, but that didn’t mean it had been the only thing that had led the relationship sideways. 

The only thing Danny would probably do was to make Matt feel unnecessary guilty of something he hadn’t done.

That was why he’d ended up at the rooftop, appreciating the city from a different angle than he always did and feeling calmed from knowing that Matt was nearby in case he found the right thing to say.

He was  _ mostly _ surprised when Matt walked in on him.

“Hey,” Matt said, quietly.

Danny sighed internally. He still had no idea of what to say and that definitely made him a little nervous.

“Hey.”

Matt went next to Danny. 

“What are you doing here?” Matt asked.

Danny shrugged. Honestly, he didn’t have an answer to that.

“I kind of wanted to talk about the breakup. Kind of, not entirely. I wasn’t sure, but I came anyway. Also, I might’ve forgotten you would know I was here.”

It was ridiculous to imagine Matt wouldn’t realize Danny was there. Some things didn’t have the time to be considered before it was too late.

Matt grinned.

_ God, that smile. _

“Yeah, well, I can’t help but notice people,” Matt said.

Danny knew Matt was being humoristic, but he didn’t reply. 

“So, do you want to talk about it?” Matt asked. “I can cook something for us.”

He didn’t even know Matt could cook. Or at least, not enough to offer someone else a dish without worrying.

It was easier to talk at neutral ground, though. No pressure, no tension, no nothing. Just them, the city and the night. Danny loved that concept.

“I’m good, but thanks. We can talk here. I like the fresh air.”

“Alright. So you do want to talk about it.”

“I do,” Danny confirmed. “But at the same time, I just feel tired of thinking longer about it.”

That last realization impressed Danny. It simplified things a lot to notice that he didn’t care anymore about the reasons that had made him break up with Colleen or not. He had nothing new to think or conclude or believe about it.

Danny saw Matt turning to him with his peripheral sight. 

“Are you sad?” Matt asked.

Danny took his eyes off the city lights to face Matt too.

“No,” he answered. It felt like a confession. He knew it was socially accepted to be sad after a breakup, he knew it was the natural order of things, but he just wasn’t and that was strange. “But I wished it hadn’t happened like that. The Hand broke us apart. ”  _ For the most part. _ He sighed at that thought. “I mean, we shared so many things…”

Danny was used to Colleen’s company, to her support, to the routine they’d created with time. In a way, a part of him was now missing without her.

“I know the feeling,” Matt said.

Danny guessed it was because of Elektra. 

“I, uhm, I went to church the other day,” Matt said. He’d sounded casual. “I talked to a Father. He said I didn’t have to feel guilt for liking other men. And I understood why he’s right.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

That phrase was probably misrepresenting the way he felt inside, but nothing meant that just because Matt was finding his peace with the subject, he would find an interest significant enough in Danny to requite Danny’s feelings or whatever that was.

He really hoped Matt couldn’t tell his hands were by then sweating in his pockets. He feel very stupid for being aware of that and not being able to stop it.

They were in silence for maybe a minute or two without doing nothing else. Danny still had in mind questions like why had made him go there in the first place and why hadn’t he left yet.

He didn’t understand what was happening—does he want me to realize something or…?—when Matt took his hand. 

Danny was not imagining things. Matt was holding his hand. 

Danny sighed and tried to relax. He didn’t accomplish it and found himself tightening his hand in Matt’s to drain some of his nerves.

He didn’t know if he was supposed to say or explain something. What was happening seemed to be very clear, but for some reason he couldn’t put in words out loud. Doing that would make it too real and obvious and too vulnerable. He couldn’t bring himself to cause all of that to the situation they were in.

“You really don’t have to be nervous,” Matt said, forming again with his lips one of those adorable and absolutely missing smiles he was able to pull out.

“Am I that obvious?” Danny asked, suddenly out of breath. Fact: It was  _ impossible _ to hide something from Matt.

“Your body speaks volumes about your feelings,” Matt said lightly.

Danny smirked, shaking his head slightly.

“Yeah, that’s not actually comforting.”

Matt, without letting go of Danny’s hand, took a couple of steps to stand in front of him, still arm-length away.

Danny was expectantly looking at how Matt placed a hand over his chest, over his heart. Matt’s actions had made Danny’s heart start beating even faster. If Matt could listen to people’s hearts in normal conditions, what would it feel like with a hand on their chest, beating so hard?

“Take it easy, Rand,” Matt said playfully. “I can’t read minds yet. Besides, I’m flattered.”

Danny laughed and untensed. For not putting a name to all of that, acting like they both understood completely well what was going on came out too natural for Matt.

“Unbelievable,” Danny said, just as lightly. “You’re a total boastful.”

Matt chuckled and a silence, this one a lot more comfortable than the last one, settled in again.

Matt let go of Danny’s hand carefully. Danny thought Matt probably wanted to make extra sure it didn’t look like he was dropping Danny’s hands in panic.

“I’ll be in my apartment if you wanna talk,” Matt said, vaguely pointing over his back to the building’s emergency staircase.

“Good,” Danny said. “This was nice.”

His voice had came out quiet, but even himself noticed how deeply honest it had sounded.

“Take care,” Matt said and went back inside.

Danny was left in a state of clarity he had known very few times before. He didn’t feel lost anymore. He knew by facts that he could let himself daydream about his thing with Matt becoming a real thing. The attraction, or at least interest, flowed both ways.

It seemed too good to be true, but Danny would not mind and he would enjoy those silly butterflies in his stomach as long as he possibly could.

*

Danny had been very nervous about inviting Matt to dinner. He’d doubted himself for the past four days before gathering the guts to finally say what he’d rehearsed a million times.

“Hey, Matt, I was thinking,” he said, starting the conversation.

Matt turned to him.

“I’m listening.”

“I’d like to invite you to have dinner at my place,” Danny said, maybe a little too fast. “If that’s okay with you,” he added, this time more calmly.

Matt smirked and tilted his head to a side.

“That sounds good, actually.”

“No take-out food, but actually homemade.” Danny took a deep breath and said, “You can tell me your favorite dish to see if I can cook it.”

Matt shrugged casually. 

“Surprise me, Danny.”

“Great,” Danny said. He hadn’t planned out that answer in his mental script. “Sure, uh, yeah. I’ll think of something. Tomorrow at seven?”

“Yes. I’ll be the—” 

“Hey, lovebirds,” Jessica called from the bottom of the ally. “Stop flirting and come over here.”

Danny blushed. Luckily for him, Matt replied immediately.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Jones,” Matt said.

Maybe after so much thinking and considering, Danny could’ve picked a better moment to make the invitation.

*

‘Surprise me.’ What was he supposed to cook for Matt to surprise him?

Danny wanted to give him something new, that he hadn’t had before, but that at the same time he could be at least 90% sure that he would enjoy.

He got a popcorn bag out of the microwave, emptied it in a bowl, took his recipe book from a kitchen drawer and sat on the couch of his living room.

While eating the popcorn, he read through every one of the dishes he’d learned to prepare while he was K’un Lun. 

Actually, all the dishes he could cook and his seasoning in general had all been acquired during his time there. Before the crash, his parents always had people to cook for them and they never had to worry about teaching him culinary skills.

He was happy he’d thought of archiving the instructions to cook all of that; now in New York he sometimes missed the place that had been his home for such a long time and nothing was better at helping remembering old times like a well-prepared native dish from there.

_ This is it! _ , he thought, when he turned the page and the Shab Tra’s recipe smiled at him.

*

Danny woke up the next day,  _ the date day, _ and mentalized to have an amazing day. He put the first playlist on YouTube of  “Best 90’s hip hop” and as he had warm and tasty oatmeal, he made a list of the things he needed to buy to prepare the plate for that night.

Afterwards, he put things in the dishwasher, dressed up with sweatpants and a t-shirt and went to the grocery store nearest his suite with his shopping list ready.

He bought the meat there since they were selling it considerably soft and pretty clean. Vegetables weren’t fresh, though.

He decided to pass by a farmer’s market a few blocks over to get the rest of the ingredients—besides the vegetables, the species to season the dish.

The stands were small yet full of vitality and color. Mostly women were visiting them; some of them with their kids and looked like young first-time mothers; others were by themselves and were looking of pro-fitness type, searching for the latest or most healthy food; some looked more like if they were looking whatever they needed to prepare their grandchildren a special meal.

While Danny picked carrots from a crate, he saw out of the corner of his eye another young man. Danny thought they may represent the 1% percent of the people there, if not less.

“It’s funny, right?” the young man said kindly, talking to Danny. 

Danny turned to him. The guy was in his early twenties and had light brown skin and dark eyes and hair.

“Hm?” Danny asked, a little amused.

“You know, guys like you and me buying veggies where nannies come to find the secret ingredients of their recipes.”

Danny giggled and shook his head slightly. He continued to look for proper carrots for the dish.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“I’m gonna ask my girlfriend to marry me tonight,” the guy continued to say. “I’m preparing dinner, so it has to be perfect.”

“Congratulations,” Danny said with a smile. He picked one final carrot and turned on his heels, giving the guy one final kind look.

“You have a lucky girl, too?”

Danny snorted and thought of Matt.

“Yeah, something like that.”

The guy nodded with a not-at-all not-knowing smile on his face and Danny left to pay for the carrots and move on to the species kiosk.

*

Danny got home at almost 5 o’clock, which meant he had a little more than two hours to get the house ready to welcome Matt.

The first thing he did was to splash cologne on the shirt he’d later wear for the date before he forgot to do it early enough. He imagined that with Matt’s senses, eating with such a strong cologne smell would be unpleasant.

He’d ordered a bottle of Pinjopo online, apparently the only wine from Tibetan cuisine that could actually be found in New York within a two-days notice.

The bottle arrived at at almost 6, but thankfully the company delivery didn’t even make him go to the lobby to receive it. He quickly checked for the bottle to be the right one before signing the form, wishing the delivery girl a nice day and closing the door again to go back to put everything in perfect place before Matt arrived.

He’d already vacuumed the house, made sure all furniture pieces had no dust on them and even cleaned every mirror to make them shiny like crystals. He swore Matt would notice if things weren’t perfect.

Danny showered fast and well, used a hair-dryer for his hair so it wouldn’t be soaking wet and shaved the edges of his beard s they would be impeccable.

He went to his room, where he’d put on his unmade bed the dressing shirt he would wear. It was somewhere between white, lilac and maybe beige, made of the softest threads he’d ever known and he hoped that not too-fine for the occasion.

He put on jeans, just in case the shirt was indeed too formal, and his favorite Vans. He looked in the mirror, rolled up the sleeves to his elbows and got out of his room with definite determination to enjoy that night with his whole heart.

It was 6:50 and Matt would be there soon. He stirred oil in the frying pan and started chopping the vegetables and meat. Ten minutes later, it was almost fully cooked and the doorbell rang.

He would have been lying if he’d said he didn’t need Matt Murdock on a chemise to really know what being handsome really meant.

*

Everything was perfect.

From Matt praising his food, the small talk and the fact that Matt was aware of almost everything around him, Matt calling him handsome and pretending that he hadn’t, to finishing the wine bottle at the counter while the atmosphere just got lighter with every sip, finally naming the date as such, and obviously ending the night with a training combat fight and a kiss.

It was insane how high Danny felt by just a kiss. He was glad Matt had had the courage to do it, but even more glad because it was amazing and breathtaking and he needed more of it although he knew he had to focus on savoring the moment without too much anticipation.

His hands on Matt’s body—arm and back—were burning and he was worried that they were may have been shaky as well for his excitement and nerves.

Kissing Matt was new but, at the same time, he felt like for some reason he already knew what to do. He pushed further in the kiss and he wasn’t afraid of being too ‘direct’. He was letting Matt know how good it was by it and Matt got the message in just the perfect way.

Their lips continued to dance in flawless harmony when Matt’s wonderful and strong hand cupped Danny’s face and tilted his head to a side. There was tongue now and that, plus Matt’ hold on him., made his heart rate accelerate even more. He sucked on Matt’s lips and  _ whoa _ , he really needed to take a breath.

They let go of each other’s lips almost simultaneously and didn’t pull back more than enough to speak.

“What if we call it a tie?”

Danny caught his breath just in time to answer.

“Deal.”

He took Matt’s chin in his fingers and kissed him again, that time more chastely.

“Tonight has been wonderful,” Danny whispered.

Matt’s eyes were looking right into Danny’s. It was intense to feel Matt Murdock’s glare.

“Yes, Danny,” Matt ran his hands over Danny’s back, from the bottom to his shoulders. “It’s been an amazing date. We had a goodbye kiss and everything.”

Danny smiled, but frowned and pouted as he kissed Matt on his cheek.

“So this is goodbye?” He asked, holding Matt tightly.

Matt shook his head.

“Just for tonight. I have to go to court tomorrow morning.”

Danny let go of Matt’s back and torso and remained holding just his hands.

“Let me walk you to the door, then.”

Danny started walking to the entryway, picked up Matt’s coat from the hanger and stood in front of the closed door once he got there.

He kissed Matt’s hands and let go of them. He helped him put on the coat and opened the door for him.

“You’ve been a gentleman tonight,” Matt said.

“What can I say? You bring out the best of me.”

Matt smiled.

“See you.”

“Yeah. See you.”

Danny closed the door and bit his lower lip. 

Saying it had been a great date was a big understatement; it had been  _ perfect _ .

*

The next day, Danny woke up smiling. He was impatient for seeing Matt again, which would also be fun because it was going to be in a meeting with Luke and Jess.

They hadn’t explicitly said it, but it was obvious they wouldn’t share their relationship with them yet. Danny wondered how things would play out and if they wouldn’t be too obvious.

He sweeped off the thoughts out of his head and focused on being productive the first half of the day too. The meeting with the team was set for 2 pm (since Luke had to ‘take care of personal stuff” earlier) so that gave Danny a lot of hours to do something else with his time.

He had breakfast—a bacon and cheese sandwich—, meditated as usual, and texted Joy.

They exchanged a few messages, in which he asked if he was needed for anything at the office that day and how was she and Ward doing. She said they were both doing okay and that they didn’t need him that day, but the following one for a board meeting.

He didn’t even ask what would they discuss. Instead, he sent her a text saying that although he wasn’t sure if he would make it, he promised he would try to be there.

So, he wasn’t wanted in the office. He asked himself if calling Matt was a good choice. He’d mentioned in the ending of their date that he had to be in the court in the morning, so he was probably still there being an excellent attorney.

Danny did his laundry and found himself free again. He would’ve cleaned, if the house hadn’t been already spotless from his cleaning the day before for his date.

He ended up on his bed, with his laptop on his legs, scrolling through Go Fund Me and helping generously with all kind of causes he found deserving of his money. After all, those people needed it more than him and he had more money than he could think of spending in the next decade.

When he glanced over the time on the corner of the screen, it was already time to head out to the warehouse for the meeting.

He got there earlier than everyone. He took a seat on the table they’d placed in the middle of the area they’d enabled for their encounters. It was metallic, old and unstable, but at least it worked to gather them organizedly to discuss their next movements.

Luke was the next to arrive.

“Hey,” he said with his characteristic deep voice. He walked to the table and sat next to Danny.

“Hi,” Danny replied.

Despite of his first impression of Luke, Danny had to admit he now liked him and cared about him as a friend.

“How was your morning?” Danny asked. “Did you do what you needed to do?”

“Yeah, I just had to make sure Mariah wasn’t involved with this. Now I’m sure she’s not,” Luke explained interlacing his fingers on the table.

Danny nodded. 

“That’s good, I guess. Right?”

“I don’t know what’s good anymore, kiddo. The Hand, the kind of shit we’re dealing with is… big. I don’t know how big, but I don’t scare easily and let me tell you—I’m scared.”

“We all are,” Danny said. “New York is our home and whatever we’re getting ourselves into, whatever plan The Hand has, is trying to destroy it.”

The door, with noisy hinges and that was naturally loud whenever it was opened or closed, announced someone else had arrived.

To Danny’s surprise, Jess and Matt had made it together.

“Now you two are hanging out without us?” Luke asked jokingly.

Jess looked like she was about to roll her eyes, but didn’t.

“We bumped into the other on our way here,” she said.

“How are you?” Matt asked, taking the seat in front of Danny.

“Good,” Danny answered. He wanted to smile so badly, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t show how happy and excited he was for seeing Matt. Not because of Matt—he’d probably already noticed all of the changes on his body that described how happy he was without Danny needing to smile—but because of Luke and Jess, of course. “You?”

Matt curved a corner of his lips.

“I’m good, thank you for asking.”

“Are we gonna talk about The Hand, or what?” Jessica asked.

Danny sighed internally and Matt started setting out what they knew, what they needed to know and how they should try to find it out.

The conclusion of their meeting was that the next day, at night, they’d spy on Bakuto’s ‘Minion’s School’ (in Jess’ words) and try to get good reliable information basing on their observation.

They designed a strategy to get and stay there unnoticed, and they ended up being officially done for the day at 8 pm.

“Well guys, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” Luke said.

“And I need a drink,” Jessica said. “Maybe seven, I’m not sure.”

“Let me guess,” Matt said. “You know a place?”

“I  _ always _ know a place, my love,” she said, faking a smile.

Matt smiled.

 

Luke was already halfway to the door and Jess was right behind him.

“You coming or what?” Luke asked over his shoulder.

Danny shook his head.

“I’m gonna head home. I need to do some stuff there,” he said.

Luke made this ‘Rich people and their  _ stuff _ ’ face and shrugged.

“You, Matt?”

“Maybe next time. I have a case to work up.”

“Bye, gents,” Jess said.

Danny listened to Luke’s now lower voice asking Jess the name of the place so he’d tell Claire to meet them there. Then the silence reigned in the warehouse; he and Matt were alone.

“Stuff to do?” Matt asked him, incredulously.

Danny snorted.

“What? So you actually do have a case?”

Matt shook his head and rose to his feet. 

“Touché.”

He walked around the table and sat on the chair next to Danny, where Luke had been sitting all afternoon.

“What if we go to a park, or something?” Matt suggested. “We could hang out, talk about something else that isn’t The Hand, maybe eat something unhealthily delicious?”

Matt snickered at his own silliness and Danny followed. He leaned forward close to Matt and, with a hand behind his head, brought them together for a short kiss on the lips.

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

They went to the Greenacre Park and sat in front of the waterfall. 

Just a couple of teenagers were there, sitting on the most distant table from them.

Danny and Matt were each on a side of the small round table, holding each other’s hands over it.

Matt had been wearing his glasses since they left the warehouse and still had them on.

Danny released his left hand from Matt’s holding and softly put it on Matt’s face.

“Can you take them off?” He asked, knowing perfectly well Matt knew what he was talking about. “I’m getting used to look you in the eyes.”

Matt grinned widely.

“Sure. Take them off, it’s fine.”

Danny’s heart rate for some reason sped up at the words. Maybe he felt like it was more personal if he did it instead of Matt, maybe it was the implication of trust or the choose of words Matt had done.

For whatever reason, butterflies in his stomach went crazy taking Matt’s glasses off his face.

Danny carefully retired them from Matt’s face and put them on the table. He stared into the newly uncovered eyes and sighed contently, admiring the view.

“You know, Danny?” Matt said, very low and very quietly.

“Yes?” Danny whispered back.

“One of the best feelings I have when I’m with you is that—is this knowing feeling. Not in the bad way, not like if I have to listen to your heartbeats or monitor your body to read you. But like… like I know you’re being transparent with me. Always.”

Danny blinked in surprise. That was just beyond anything he would’ve expected Matt to tell him.

“I know you’re honest with me, too,” Danny said. He really didn’t know what else to respond to that.

“And I know when you stay silence or don’t speak your mind about something, it’s not because you’re not sharing whatever you think. It’s because you don’t really have something to say yet. Like today, when we were discussing the plan for tomorrow and you were just there...  _ listening _ .”

Danny sighed. He played with Matt’s fingers, tracing  them slightly with his fingerprints, feeling every detail on them. He listened to the waterfall falling in front of them, so calming and so appropriate for the night.

“I can’t deny sometimes I feel like I’m the one with less practice of the team,” Danny said.

“You were trained in another  _ dimension _ by monks to defeat a supernatural force and you literally fought with a dragon, Danny.”

“But New York is different. It’s a dragon I haven’t fought before. Not like this.”

The teenager couple giggled their way out. Danny listened vaguely to their  ‘My mom’s gonna kill me’ and ‘I’m already past my curfew’. 

The moment became ten times more intimate from there.

“I didn’t comment on it like a negative thing, Danny. It’s okay to learn about things. About, you know, where we are. It’s what makes us good at defending it.”

Danny smiled and licked his lips. He put both of his elbows on the table and leaned in over it.

“Matt, how do you really always know what to say?”

“Me?” Matt asked. He mimicked Danny’s posture and their faces remained barely an inch apart. “You’re the one who helped me get out of an emotional hole in the first place. Damn it, when we met you even gave me a purpose again.”

Danny closed his eyes and relaxed. They kissed, sweet and soft. The traces of hesitation and discovery from their first kiss were gone, but the wonder of how good it felt was still there (and Danny hoped it never went away).

His hands tightened on Matt’s when Matt bit his lip, making his breath fasten.

Matt moved his right hand out of Danny’s and cupped his face, making it lean to the opposite side. Danny did as Matt prompted and enjoyed the dynamic of their kiss. 

“I could go on all night,” Matt whispered. Danny opened his eyes and met Matt’s, through beautiful eyelashes.

“I hate to say it, but I have a board meeting tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry. I was thinking I should get back home soon too. Although, yes, I could do this all night.”

The fact that Matt had brought that comment up for the second time got Danny geniously curious.

“Do you mean like, while doing other things, too?”

Matt gasped.

“Oh. I didn’t, actually. Can’t say I hadn’t think about it,” —Danny’s brain short circuited at that statement— “but no I didn’t mean it right now like that. Wouldn’t want to risk this for anything in the world.”

“So it’s a risk?” He asked, worried. “That we sleep together?”

“It’s a risk we rush ourselves. Or I rather say this relationship.”

“Good. I’m glad that’s what you meant, then.”

Danny passed the back of his fingers over Matt’s thin beard and Matt gracefully welcomed the touch.

They would take separate ways when they returned to their places later that night, but Danny would’ve left a part of him with Matt since that moment and forever.

*

It was incredibly easy how things kept flowing between them. They didn’t need a routine, a schedule, a pattern. Whatever they did, worked for both of them as long as they were together and had a good time. Most of the times, though, they had short dates.

Just as they started getting the answers they needed to fight The Hand, the evil organization sped up its next moves to crush the city. The mission started complicating and the next few days only ten to fifteen minutes talks in the warehouse, before Luke or Jess arrived, were all they had.

It was a week after their first date—Danny wasn’t sure if he felt like it had been minutes or ages ago—they had a chance to hang out at Matt’s apartment in the afternoon.

Danny didn’t have obligations in Rand Enterprises, Matt was free from the court after noon, and their duty as heroes started that day since 7 pm.

They decided on the phone that they would hang out at Matt’s apartment during the afternoon  and that they’d leave together to meet Jessica and Luke at the facility where they had discovered the Black Sky was living.

Danny knocked on Matt’s door, listening faded music behind it. Matt opened the door, they said their hellos, Matt invited Danny in and they kissed as it was by then usual.

“I passed by a cake shop on my way here. I hope you’re a chocolate fan like me ‘cause I bought a tiramisu to share.”

“I am, in fact,” Matt said.

Danny put on the cardboard box on the kitchen counter and went to sit on the living room couch. He rested his back against the side and was almost laid across the whole couch, leaving his feet hanging next to it. Matt sat on the remaining space of the seat.

“I could put something else, if you’d like,” Matt said.

“What? No way. I love Bee Gees. They remind me of my parents.” Danny smiled, closing his eyes to  _ Massachusetts’  _ melody. “Of the time when I was happy.”

Matt glanced at him. Danny had to say his expression was unreadable, at least for him. 

“What?” Danny asked.

“I’m just thinking. Are you unhappy?”

“No! No, no. Not at all. I meant that when I was still a kid, I was happy in a way that I could never be after the crash,” he clarified. He straightened up and kicked off his shoes, putting his socked feet on the couch and hugging his knees with his arms. “After I lost my parents, things were gray for me. I didn’t even like the monastery at the beginning, you know?”

“I always imagined that you liked it from the beginning because they gave you a home. But now that you mention it, to embrace a life in a monastery for a teenager must not have been attractive at all.”

“Exactly. I mean, they had a lot of rules, they shaved my head, having fun was a sign of indiscipline, trainings were too strict…” Danny shrugged. “For the time I was back to New York, I wasn’t even used to sleep on beds anymore.”

“What did you do to have fun?” Matt asked.

“What normal kids do. Playing tag, for example,” Danny smiled. “We just had to play when all monks were already asleep and in their bedrooms. Once they got in there, only emergencies could draw them out. I also liked listening to music. I always had my MP3 with me. It kept me close to home.”

“Danny, can I ask you a favor?” Matt asked.

Danny looked at him, a little startled.

“Anything, Matt.”

“Can you teach me your, uh, meditating choreography?”

“You mean you want me to teach you how to harness your chi?”

“Exactly. If you don’t mind, I’d love to share that with you.”

“Of course, Matt. Teaching you something new for a change would be nice. Just follow my lead.” 

Danny got to his feet and put in the initial position: feet full on the ground, separated and parallely aligned. Matt moved the table to a side and copied Danny’s posture next to him.

Danny started the routine, drawing a circle with his arms and taking a deep breath. He felt his body relax, his chest widening and his mind refocusing.

He took a wide step to his left, flexing his knees. The air moving through his fingers and his backbone fully stretching with pleasure—it was twice as intense with Matt following his moves.

Peace flooded him and he could bet that it was fulfilling Matt, as well.  Danny’s muscle memory guide him through the steps, not resisting the temptation of closing his eyes, even when seeing Matt out of the corner of eyes as he copied the routine made Danny’s heart flutter with pride and emotion. Danny would never stop admiring Matt’s gift—superpower, actually—of being able to see the world in his own way, given that he was blind.

By the time they were over, again centered with his feet full on the ground, the room felt lighter and brighter, like if both of their chests had lit up with aligned and pure energy.

He opened his eyes and turned to Matt, who was calmly still holding his final position with closed eyes. He noticed how Matt’s chest breathed in and out slowly. Finally, Matt relaxed and let his arms fall to his sides.

“That was fun,” Matt said with a big smile. “Thank you for the lesson.”

Danny shook his head dramatically.

“Yeah, but I don’t know, you were doing it all wrong.”

Matt obviously detected the playful tone and was quick to follow the game.

“How so?”

“See, you gotta put your hands like this,” Danny indicated, standing behind Matt. He covered Matt’s arms with his from top to bottom and slowly draw the initial circle around them, making sure to have his chest in full contact with Matt’s back. 

“Okay…” Matt said, letting Danny manipulate his arms.

“And then you put them on your sides like this,” Danny continued. He put Matt’s hands on his sides and hugged him around the torso. He kissed the nape of Matt’s neck and snuggled at Matt’s ear. “And from here on, you do whatever you want.”

Matt turned around and kissed Danny on the lips. It was expected, but still exciting. Danny’s leg was intentionally getting between Matt’s and the whole moment was so pure, with some old hit on the background, the suddenly irrelevant shine of the billboard illuminating the room, their energies so well channeled—it was liberating.

Small kisses melted into longer ones. Matt’s hands were pressed on Danny’s lower back, holding him in place, and Danny’s arms were around Matt’s back and shoulders.

Danny bit Matt’s lip and he also was bitten. The kiss kept evolving and he kept getting warmer, hotter. He was still a little nervous, though. He slid his hands down Matt’s back and firmly repositioned his palms there, loving—adoring how Matt got distracted from the kiss by that.

Matt pushed himself against Danny just enough for Danny to feel  _ it _ , Matt’s excitement made flesh, and Danny had to be glad he wasn’t the only one.

“Your kisses are the damn best, man,” Danny said, needing to release some of the tension in him.

Matt gave him a peck and shook his head.

“Don’t ‘man’ me right now, okay? Not just now.”

Danny giggled.

“Okay,  _ darling _ , whatever you say.”

Matt gave a small laugh too and caught his breath. Danny also took deep breaths and focused on getting his blood flow going on all of his body again rather than focused on its south side.

They kissed some more—made out, in fact—and Danny loved it. Keeping himself in control was all he’d been learning about in K’un Lun, so he enjoyed practicing devouring Matt’s mouths after realizing they wouldn’t go further than that yet.

Again, it was  _ frigging _ liberating.

*

Since the breakup, Danny hadn’t been alone in a room with Colleen, but they’d been assigned to guard the entrance of where the Black Sky lived (or whatever she did, because it couldn’t be called “living”). They were both with binoculars on a rooftop a whole block over the facility, with nothing else than the other.

“I wish you would’ve just explained you were seeing Matt,” Colleen said.

Danny choked on the air.

“What?!”

“I’ve seen the way you look at him. I’m not angry, really. Just sad you couldn’t tell me the truth.”

“Colleen, I—I wasn’t. I won’t deny we’re ‘seeing’ each other now, but I wasn’t when you and I were together. I…” Danny looked her in the eyes, knowing that his disappointment was written all over his saddened expression. “I can’t believe you think I could’ve cheated on you.”

“So it had nothing to do with our fights? With the reason you and I stopped working so well together?” She was looking him in the eyes, too. Her frowned eyebrows and watery eyes told Danny she was speaking out of anger and pain.

Danny sighed and pursed his lips together. He hesitated for a moment, opening and closing his mouth again, then spoke.

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.”

He shook his head and the subject was apparently dropped. Until the ending of the monitoring shift, neither of them said anything that wasn’t strictly necessary.

*

Danny had heard the saying “Don’t bring knives to a gunfight”. What about making a new one? “Don’t bring chainsticks to a sword fight”?

Danny knew none of them were invencible. In any case, Luke was the one most likely to get out of that kind of fights without a scratch. But Jessica, he and Matt were always risking themselves to get hurt, wounded and, if they weren’t careful, dead.

Fighting ninjas was incredibly hard. Especially if they were Hand ninjas and you were Matt Murdock and had to trace their breaths in order to sense them attacking you. At least, that was how Matt had explained Danny that it worked.

One of them caught Matt off guard, after he’d been taken down to the ground. Matt was coughing blood when the sword crossed his back, making him scream.

Danny ran over there, quickly examining the amount of blood that was leaving Matt’s body.

“Guys!” he screamed. “I’m taking him out!”

“Don’t leave them,” Matt told him.

Danny hung Matt’s arm around his shoulder to help him walk out of there.

“Shut up, okay? You’re bleeding a lot.”

Danny was scared. He was frightened and impressed. It was like if he thought that Matt would always be fine underneath his leather suit. But it apparently wasn’t as effective as it should’ve been in their demanding line of work.

Luke and Jess finished the ninjas and helped Danny take Matt to the warehouse. Once in there, they undressed the upper half of Matt’s body and analyzed the cut.

Given how much he’d been bleeding, Danny expected it to look worse. It was only four or five inches long and not deep enough to require more than stitches to heal properly.

After some arguing and complaining, Luke and Jess let Danny take Matt on his own to his place to patch him up. If that hadn’t been obvious enough, Danny wondered what would take for them to notice that Matt and he were more than friends. 

But he stopped thinking about that and focused instead on driving Matt home safely.

He hated suturing him, but not because he was afraid of needles, blood or something like that. He hated doing it because he felt guilty for it. He knew it was not logical, that it hadn’t been his fault and that he should have been happy because he was helping Matt recover. 

But in the first place, nothing should’ve happened to him, and in second place, they should stop saving his fist’s healing abilities for “emergencies” and start using them for moments like this.

About the sleeping together, well. Danny had to admit it felt a little awkward at first. It was understood, however, nothing else besides actually sleeping would happen with Matt injured like that.

Danny knew it was not impossible—Thinking about an injured Matt on the receiving end of oral sex wasn’t really helping his argument—but he just didn’t think it would work nicely for a first-of-all-times going further than making out. It would even feel wrong; Danny was not really in the mood for nothing else that wasn’t taking care of Matt.

Most of the night, he spent it awake just looking at Matt and wondering about how he felt, if he knew that Danny was awake and if he may have been awake himself. He wanted to put a hand on his bare arm and hold it, but he was afraid something like that woke Matt up, which would make a lot of sense.

Anyhow, he did manage to sleep a couple of hours before the sunrise.

*

“If you want to see your friend again,” Gao’s voice filled the speaker of Danny’s cellphone, “don’t miss our appointment tomorrow at 6 pm.”

“Danny! Don’t, it’s a trap-” Colleen’s voice in the background was followed by the tone that indicated the call was over.

Danny looked up from the black screen of his cellphone into his friends’ eyes.

“Danny, we’re gonna get her,” Jessica said.

Danny threw the phone against the floor, not caring about the pieces that fell out of it when he did. He ran his hands through his hair and started pacing around the warehouse.

It was Joy’s story all over again. Damn. It.

“But it’s a  _ trap _ ,” Luke protested.

“We’re still going for her,” Matt said. “Trap or no trap, we don’t leave ours behind.”

“I’m not saying we leave her, I’m saying we can’t go in there as if we don’t already know, even if Colleen hadn’t mentioned it, that it’s a trap.”

“We won’t,” Danny said. “We’ll hit them with everything we’ve got. We’ll think of something.”

They didn’t leave the warehouse until they designed a viable plan to get Colleen back without letting themselves be captured. Now they just needed to wait until it was time for the ‘appointment’ and hope things turned out as planned.

Matt went with him to his place. He’d insisted on doing it because he didn’t want Danny to be alone in those circumstances. Danny didn’t complain. He could accept that he needed the company.

When he asked Matt to sit on his lap, making electricity bolt in his chest, he was being driven by just his anguish and fear. He needed a relief and an escape, so he went to Matt in the most physical of ways. He didn’t think Matt would complain, not after their previous making-out sessions and how hot things had gotten those times.

Danny didn’t think they were going all the way that night, though. Luckily they’d give each other a blowjob and even if it was less than that, it would serve for Danny just fine.

But the way that they approached the situation, how it had been all so forward and so explicit— 

“You want this, too, right?” Danny asked.  _ This _ , he thought. He wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘this’.

“Of course,” Matt murmured.

It was probably that blanket permission, that so meaningful and powerful phrase that set things as clear as they could be: they both were okay with sex, in general. It was a known fact and it was going to happen next.

Their kiss didn’t have an escalation; it was wanting from the beginning. Something in Danny’s stomach dropped instantly and with Matt on his legs, so close to where the glory was, goddamnit it was hard not to do more than just touch Matt over the clothes from the beginning.

Danny knew it wasn’t because of the right reasons, but it didn’t change the fact that his desire for Matt was then bigger than ever before.

He was pushing his hips up against Matt when their shirts disappeared. Skin on skin, their chests were burning with desire as they kept exploring each other’s bodies and getting their hands wherever they could reach.

“Bedroom?” Danny asked, panting. He didn’t want to do it on the couch, but he definitely wanted to do it.  _ It _ , as in, sex. Fucking. Maybe making love? He wouldn’t think of the name just yet.

Matt licked Danny’s neck, where a hickey would appear in a matter of hours.

“Yeah,” Matt said.

Matt rose to his feet and dragged Danny along by his hand to the bedroom.

Matt had never been there and, in a way, that also helped Danny realize how big the moment was. He threw himself on the bed and waited for Matt to join him. 

Danny couldn’t help but gulping when Matt got his wallet out of his back pocket and tossed on the nightstand a condom package.

Danny wasn’t sure if he’d imagined that Matt said, “We’re gonna need that later,” or if it had actually happened.

Matt straddled him, precisely adjusting himself on Danny’s crotch. He kissed Danny’s lips and humped him slowly, cupping both sides of his jawline. 

Danny was amazed by how hot and big Matt felt even through the layers of clothes. It was irresistible.

Danny fumbled to unbutton his own pants and Matt did the same with his. 

With just the fine and soft cloth of their underwear, Danny was going crazy with sensations and stimulation. He could feel every single curve of Matt’s dick against his. The wet shape of the head and the hot hardness of the shaft.

“Why had we taken so long to do this?” Matt whispered in his ear.

“I don’t know.”

Danny knew Matt had always thought of him as naive and that even when he was aware of the fact that Danny had lost his virginity to Colleen, Matt considered him chaste. He had one small point, though: Danny had never had anal sex before.

With Colleen, there had been a pressure of doing things and doing them right for her. This time, at Matt’s hands it was like if he knew what to do and what not. Matt gripped him in all of the right places and made him whimper in the least expected moments and his hand slid down his chest beautifully and Danny really didn’t want it to leave his dick once it got there, stroking him underneath his briefs.

But reaching climax by just Matt’s hand when there was so much more of him to discover was unfair. He needed the rest of Matt and he needed it soon.

Danny pulled down Matt’s underwear and after a couple of seconds they were both completely naked, feeling one another.

Matt’s dick was leaking over Danny’s abdomen, where he kept frotting himself against. It felt as wet as their tongues violently crushing together. Danny’s brain would shut off at any time from all of that.

Matt’s warm hand on his asscheek, squeezing it and its sweat and creating goosebumps,  _ shit _ . Matt’s hand making its way to Danny’s asshole to play with it, making Danny so curious about how being filled was like, making him eager about finally having Matt inside of him, even if it were just his fingers at the beginning.

Danny pulled back of the kiss, meeting Matt’s dark eyes, sticky face and messed hair.

“Please, Matt, finger me,” he whispered with rough and wanting voice.

Matt’s hand slided to the front of Danny’s crotch, playing with his dick. He took the hand up Danny’s chest and presented his index, middle and ring finger to Danny’s mouth.

“Suck,” Matt ordered.

Danny opened his mouth and started the assignment immediately, sucking on Matt’s fingers earnestly. Matt grinded against him in the meantime, kissing his neck and sucking hickeys all over his jawline and throat.

“Ah, Matt,” Danny said, exasperatedly letting go of the fingers occupying his mouth to speak, He was suddenly too focused on the stimulation his dick was receiving. “If you don’t stop, I’m gonna cum just by that.”

Matt smiled proudly.

“I love that idea,” he murmured on Danny’s ear, “but tonight, you’re coming when I’m inside you and all you can think about is being mine.”

“I’m yours,” Danny said, almost whimpering. “All yours, Matt.”

“Mine, all mine.”

Matt lowered his hand again, getting it between the mattress and Danny’s back, until it reached his asshole.

The index finger teased it, rimming the border with its fingertip. Danny pushed against it, very desperately.

“Shh,” Matt said, bringing their foreheads together. “Take it easy.”

And then finally, finally the finger was inside of Danny. 

It felt new, weird, not exactly like he expected it. It wasn’t pleasing right away and the intrusion combined with the burning sensation was something he couldn’t put a name to.

“Relax,” Matt indicated. Only then Danny realized he was tensing his muscles around Matt. He unclenched them and let Matt’s index go in deeper.

He gasped when it was all the way up. His breath became heavy and he was practically whimpering.

“Feels good?” Matt asked him.

“Yes. Fuck, yes.”

“Just for the record, it turns me on when you swear,” Matt said. He palmed Danny through his chest, stopping at his nipples. “I’m getting the next one in.”

Matt withdrew his finger a little, only to get it back accompanied by his middle finger. He got them knuckle-deep in Danny and stopped there.

Danny’s stretching hole was in some pain and he just gripped tightly Matt’s shoulder. His shut tight eyes maximized every small sensation and he was again in the limbo between pleasure and pain.

“Danny, look at me,” Matt said. Danny opened his eyes. “It’s gonna be awesome. Just-” he pushed as deep as his fingers could go and then Danny felt it: the fucking heaven. His back arched and his dick leaked even more precum, his hands on Matt getting even stronger.

“Matt, Matt, Matt, do that again,  _ pleeease _ ,” he asked, sounding even a little boyish.

“It’s fine, baby, the best part is close.”

Matt got his third finger inside without further warning and Danny cried slightly in pain. Matt kissed his lips, as if to silence him, and his tongue swirled around with his making him forget about anything else in the universe beyond the two of them together doing that.

“You good to go?” Matt asked.

“Yes.”

“Good,” he whispered.

Matt took his fingers off Danny, leaving him with an emptiness he fairly disliked. He took the condom from the nightstand and rolled it in.

He grabbed Danny by the hips— _ please, never let me go, Matt _ —, kneeled on the bed, aligned Danny’s ass with his dick and pushed the head inside.

Danny twirled in pleasure and pushed himself against Matt.

“We have all night,” Matt said, pushing in slowly,  _ too  _ slowly, inside Danny. “If it ever hurts, just tell me.”

Danny nodded, muted at the sensation. He was actually unable to speak at the moment.

He gasped and moaned as Matt kept diving into him, until Matt was balls-deep inside.

Then, Matt lowered himself and aligned his torso with Danny’s, just as their faces too. He french-kissed Danny, biting and teasing. He got one hand to squeeze Danny’s ass, because he must’ve noticed he was a fan of that, and the other hand played with stiff nipples.

Danny listened to Matt’s breath, full of bliss, and remember to breath himself. He untensed and spread his legs apart as much as he could to welcome Matt.

It was beyond good. 

Matt started thrusting into him. It was slow and then rhythmic, patient and then impulsive.

Danny moaned and groaned, noticing how Matt made sure to repeat whatever angle had made him vocalize his pleasure. Matt licked his palm and fingers, wrapping his hand around Danny to finally take him all the way to the edge.

They were kissing when they came, both of their mouths stopping still when their bodies shuddered and spasmed.

If their first grand moment had taught Danny anything besides how the best sex on his life felt like, it was that Danny had never belonged anywhere as much as he belonged to Matt and with Matt. 

*

Opening his eyes and having Matt resting next to him was a blessing.

Danny still couldn’t believe that last night actually happened. He guessed they would have to do it again to refresh the memory of how good it had been. He genuinely smiled at that thought.

He put on his sweatpants and went to the kitchen to prepare coffee for Matt and tea for himself. He was as quiet and quick as he could, hoping he wouldn’t wake Matt up and that he could get him the coffee on bed before he got up.

When he returned to the bedroom with a cup on each hand, he wasn’t actually surprised of finding Matt awake and sitting on the bed. He was still shirtless and likely naked, but sheets covered the lower half of his body.

“Morning,” Danny said, taking a seat next to Matt.

“Good morning,” Matt answered.

“I made you coffee,” Danny said, offering the cup.

“Thank you. It smells delicious.” Matt sipped carefully from the cup and held it down in front of him. “What time is it? Like 7?”

Danny glanced at a digital clock next to the window. “Almost. It’s 6:47.” He drank from his tea and savored it slowly. It was in the perfect sugar point—or maybe it was drinking it with Matt what was special about it.

“Less than 12 hours,” Matt said.

“Yeah,” Danny said. He sighed. “I know we’ll get her back. I just hope they’re not torturing her, Matt. They could do her terrible things.”

“Hey,” Matt said. He reached with his hand for Danny’s knee. “I’m sure she’s fine. All they need is for us to walk into their trap. Knowing Gao, she’s probably offering her food and water to piss her off even more.”

“I just hope you’re right, okay?” Danny said. He put his hand over Matt’s and interlaced their fingers. The feeling in his chest turned from uncertainty to peace. Thinking about Matt, last night, everything they’d gone through… it gave him peace.  “Last night was exceptional, Matt. Better than anything I’d ever imagined.”

Matt chuckled. Danny could swear he even blushed slightly at his words.

“My thoughts exactly,” Matt said. “I’ll make breakfast today. Waffles?”

Danny nodded. “Waffles are perfect.”

Minutes later, when Danny saw Matt cooking for them in his kitchen and being so familiar with his surroundings, emanating love and nice feelings, obviously enjoying being there and doing something nice for Danny—kind of mirroring their first date when it was Danny in the opposite site of the counter, in fact—Danny knew it: he was in love with Matt. 

*

The Hand was defeated. All of them were safe. They had officially won.

Obviously, it deserved a celebration. Gathering all of their friends and family in one place, just to talk and share and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that they had been the ones behind New York’s saving.

The Defenders—as they were calling themselves then—Colleen, Claire, Foggy, Karen, Misty, Trish, the whole team together at the now simply but nicely decorated warehouse. 

It was private, intimate and exactly what they needed.

When Danny held Matt’s hand over the table, nobody asked questions.

Danny finally concluded they never had to show their affection to prove or explain anything to anyone.

Their love was transparent yet strong, invisible yet real, implicit yet powerful. It was his salvation.


End file.
